AP Photo/Francois MoriThe kid who coined "Uncle Walt" and who grew up to save Disney's animation studio after years of disarray has died. Roy E. Disney succmbed to complications from stomach cancert at 79.
The nephew of Walt Disney, Roy was largely responsible for providing kids of the '80 and '90s with their childhood soundtrack. With from help of a couple of guys named Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy oversaw such latter-day classics as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King (after years of flops like The Black Cauldron), earning himself a personal fortune of roughly $600 million.
And that's not Mickey Mouse money. Except for the part that is.
RIP, Roy!
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Take a look back at what other luminaries we lost this year in our gallery of 2009's Fallen Stars.